Cape Cod Polish Blog

If you don't like the weather in New England, just wait a few minutes.- Mark Twain

Well, we had our first (and hopefully last) blizzard on December 19th. The office in Dennis got about 18 inches of snow as did my house in Chatham. As a proud Cape Codder, I have only had my driveway plowed once. That was during the Blizzard of 2004 when we lived in Dennis and had almost three feet of snow!

Our fool-proof plan for enjoying snow shoveling is as follows:
1. Shovel for 30 min and play with kids in snow.
2. Go inside and and drink hot chocolate.
3. Shovel for 30 min and play with dog in snow.
4. Go inside and drink eggnog.
5. Shovel for 30 min and play with kids in snow.
6. Return indoors and drink hot toddies OR eat pumpkin pie(your choice).
7. Take a nap.
8. Repeat above as necessary. May take 1-3 days.

Unfortunately, during this blizzard, my daughter had a fever of 103 and green goo pouring out of her ear. The doctor was able to call in an antibiotic to the local pharmacy, but we had to get there before 6pm. And it would not stop snowing. And my daughter was crying with pain. So we developed a new shoveling regimen:

1. Shovel snow until burning sensations in chest and arms.
2. Keep shoveling until arms won't move.
3. Run inside, use bathroom, medicate child, put a video on for kids.
4. Repeat.

It took us from 10am to 4pm to dig out our vertical drop of a driveway. The antibiotic was picked up and Ben Gay was purchased.

If you are a "year-rounder" you know that snow accumulation is difficult to predict for Cape Cod. We have started using www.capecodweather.net as our online local weather source. It's a great combination of radar, local forecasting, and reader submitted photos. My plan for this summer is to look at their tide charts and hit the beaches only at low tide so there is more room to for everybody to spread out.

I can't believe I'm planning my storming of the beaches while there is snow on the ground...
Best Regards,
Jared Block